Leo Gogarty marries Margaud Morgan after a whirlwind romance just before shipping out to war. When he returns he is surprised to discover not only that his bride is not what she led him to ...
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Leo Gogarty marries Margaud Morgan after a whirlwind romance just before shipping out to war. When he returns he is surprised to discover not only that his bride is not what she led him to believe, but also that she expects a quick divorce. Both Mr. & Mrs Gogarty must find their place with or without each other in a society still adjusting to peace.Written by
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This film made its initial USA telecast in Los Angeles Tuesday 11 December 1956 on KTTV (Channel 11) followed by Minneapolis Sunday 27 January 1957 on KMGM (Channel 9), and by Philadelphia Thursday 28 February 1957 on WFIL (Channel 6); it first aired in Norfolk VA 5 March 1957 on WTAR (Channel 3), in Hartford CT 8 March 1957 on WHCT (Channel 18), in New Haven CT 12 March 1957 on WNHC (Channel 8), in Portland OR 14 March 1957 on KGW (Channel 8), in Altoona PA 19 March 1957 on WFBG (Channel 10), in Chicago 20 May 1957 on WBBM (Channel 2) and in Seattle 28 July 1957 on KING (Channel 5); its San Francisco television premiere did not take place until 6 August 1959 on KGO (Channel 7) and its earliest documented telecast in New York City occurred 29 June 1961 on WCBS (Channel 2). See more »
Quotes
Peggy Randall:
A war marriage is as good as any other marriage - if it's to the right man.
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The wartime housing shortage for returning veterans gets an amusing and telling look from one of Gene Kelly's lesser known pictures, Living In A Big Way. Kelly plays a GI who marries Marie McDonald on impulse before going overseas. They don't even have time to get down to business. They're not even that well acquainted.
This film is directed by Gregory LaCava who gave us two screen comedy classics, Stage Door and My Man Godfrey. This film bares more than a passing resemblance to the latter. Living In A Big Way turned out to be LaCava's last completed film.
The big shock that Kelly gets when he returns home to claim his bride with pal Bill Phipps is to discover she's rich. And she's got a stuffy fiancé in John Warburton whom she hasn't bothered to tell about that unconsummated marriage. Being married to 'The Body' that's the part most unbelievable about Living In A Big Way.
In fact it is the main weakness of Living In A Big Way. Had someone like Lana Turner or Carole Lombard been cast in the role of the unfulfilled wife some of the comedy aspects in her character would have been handled a lot better. Living In A Big Way might have become a classic. It might not have needed the musical numbers Kelly did which were creative and fun, but kind of forced into the film. The wife's role truly was one made for Carole Lombard who was beyond casting.
Charles Winninger and Spring Byington as the parents are carbon copies of Eugene Palette and Alice Brady from My Man Godfrey. There's also a nice performance by Jean Adair as McDonald's grandmother.
And one role to note, that of Phyllis Thaxter as a war widow who joins Kelly's and Phipps's community of veterans. She's the kind of girl that every GI would love to have come home to.
Living In A Big Way is an amusing enough film, but hardly one of the great films of Gene Kelly or Gregory LaCava.
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The wartime housing shortage for returning veterans gets an amusing and telling look from one of Gene Kelly's lesser known pictures, Living In A Big Way. Kelly plays a GI who marries Marie McDonald on impulse before going overseas. They don't even have time to get down to business. They're not even that well acquainted.
This film is directed by Gregory LaCava who gave us two screen comedy classics, Stage Door and My Man Godfrey. This film bares more than a passing resemblance to the latter. Living In A Big Way turned out to be LaCava's last completed film.
The big shock that Kelly gets when he returns home to claim his bride with pal Bill Phipps is to discover she's rich. And she's got a stuffy fiancé in John Warburton whom she hasn't bothered to tell about that unconsummated marriage. Being married to 'The Body' that's the part most unbelievable about Living In A Big Way.
In fact it is the main weakness of Living In A Big Way. Had someone like Lana Turner or Carole Lombard been cast in the role of the unfulfilled wife some of the comedy aspects in her character would have been handled a lot better. Living In A Big Way might have become a classic. It might not have needed the musical numbers Kelly did which were creative and fun, but kind of forced into the film. The wife's role truly was one made for Carole Lombard who was beyond casting.
Charles Winninger and Spring Byington as the parents are carbon copies of Eugene Palette and Alice Brady from My Man Godfrey. There's also a nice performance by Jean Adair as McDonald's grandmother.
And one role to note, that of Phyllis Thaxter as a war widow who joins Kelly's and Phipps's community of veterans. She's the kind of girl that every GI would love to have come home to.
Living In A Big Way is an amusing enough film, but hardly one of the great films of Gene Kelly or Gregory LaCava.